Nathans, Marin Lead 7-6 Shorebirds Win
Lakewood, NJ - The Delmarva Shorebirds (17-19) squandered the lead in the ninth inning, but scored in the twelfth inning to defeat the Lakewood BlueClaws (14-23) 7-6 at FirstEnergy Park on Tuesday night.
The Shorebirds jumped to an early lead in the first inning. Gregory Lorenzo drew a lead off walk and Tucker Nathans followed with a two-run homer to right field to put the Shorebirds in front 2-0. Then, Joel Hutter tripled to right-center field and scored on a groundout by Nik Balog.
Lakewood countered with a first inning run. Roman Quinn tripled and scored on a groundout to short by Chace Numata.
The Shorebirds tacked on two runs in the third to build a 5-1 lead. Lorenzo led off with a single. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Numata. Two batters later, Joel Hutter hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Lorenzo. The next batter, Balog, launched a home run to deep right-center field.
Lakewood tied the game with a four-run third inning. The inning was highlighted by a three-run double by Brian Pointer.
The Shorebirds regained the lead in the sixth inning on a solo home run to right field by Nathans, his second of the game and team high fifth of the season.
In the ninth inning, the BlueClaws tied the game at 6-6. Carlos Tocci hit a one out single and moved to third on a flare to shallow left-center by Zach Taylor. With two outs, Roman Quinn singled to left-center to score Tocci.
After two scoreless extra innings, the Shorebirds took the lead in the twelfth. Wynston Sawyer drew a lead off walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and tagged up to third on a fly ball. Then, with two outs, Adrian Marin singled to left to score Sawyer.
Lex Rutledge tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win. He struck out the side in the 11th and retired the BlueClaws in order in the 12th.
The Shorebirds and BlueClaws play the series finale on Wednesday, May 15 at 11:05am. Right-handed pitcher Parker Bridwell is the scheduled starter for Delmarva.